Is the world turning into a jungle again?

US President Donald Trump, seems determined to end 70 years of American foreign policy, especially to Europe, which he considers less Allied, and more like a rival. Trump's return has prompted a fiery search on both sides of the Atlantic, answers to difficult questions, about the global role of the United States, and what a self-constructed Europe must do, given a less reliable American partner.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass, speaking ahead of a conference with Germany's ambassadors last month, spoke of a stronger foreign and European defence policy in the face of a sudden uncertain future. The current international subx0nd, based on rules, is eroded, in a world where nothing can be taken for granted as good in foreign policy”- he said.

As a measure to describe how interlocked the thought has been on this issue, Mass, a socialist, quoted American conservative thinker Robert Kagan of the Brookings Institute and his next book, “jungle relocation: America and our endangered world”.

In Kagan's view, the United States' attraction as the guarantor of the order it created after World War II is turning the world into its natural state in a dark jungle of competitive interests, where nationalism, tribalism, and self - interest clash.

The liberal world subx0nd created by the United States, just over 7 decades ago, is falling apart”-writes Kagan, a sign of American fatigue from the burden of global problems that started before Trump solved, and was one of the reasons for his victory.

But as a tired America is drawn back from the efforts Mr. Kagan calls “the garden” of the liberal order ) 70 unusual years of peace and free trade, “a historical anomalies” caused by the American leadership ʹ risks are significant, especially for Europe, he argues.

Frustrated by populism and identity policy, Europe is in danger of returning to the disputes that produced totalitarianism in the 1930s, he warns. The important issue is not the Middle East or even Russia, and perhaps it may not be China” - Kagan says.

The big “is what has been for over a century. If we lose Europe, if we send it back to its normal state, it's all going to end with”. But his diagnosis that despite current behavior, the United States realizes that there must be a necessary guarantee of universal separation at a time when many people look kindly at Mr. Trump's complaint that American allies are not doing enough for collective protection.

Juliana Smith, former deputy adviser to Vice President Biden, and associate of the Robert Bosch Academy in Berlin, recently conducted a tour of the US, speaking about foreign policy. “If in Washington the bipartisan view is that more needs to be done, people in America ask if we have been too ambitious”- she said.

“We are in a situation, when the public does not see evidence supporting Kagan”- she said. Stephen M. Harvard University's Wall, argues in his next book, “The planet of good intentions: America's foreign policy elite and the collapse of US leadership”, that the United States should do less in the world, and much more selectively.

Part of the <x0-realistic school”, Mr. Walt says that since the end of the Cold War, the United States has engaged in a series of costly, largely unnecessary, and ultimately failed efforts to reform nations according to its unusual image.

The metaphor of a garden “means that our role is good and kind, when we actually blew up a lot of stuff”- he says. If we roam around the world for idealistic crusades, and some of them go wrong, as it did, then public support for an active foreign policy will fall”.

Thomas Valasek, director of “Carnegie Europe”, a research institution, views this view as extremely pessimistic. “The US has changed Europe's security culture”, he said, making Europeans more aware of the need to defend themselves.

We're not like the 1930s. There are disgusting political forces in Europe, but not of the same kind, and I do not share the assumption of Kagan, that European elites will not know how to react”. We must make clear to the American people that it is in their own interest to stay committed, and that others are growing up, paying and doing their part”- he added.

The change of US stance “towards a post-imperial role” began before Mr. Trump, with the failure of the war in Iraq, notes Natali Toci, director of the Italian Institute of Foreign Affairs, also adviser to EU foreign policy chief Federika Mogerini.

But for him, the silver subx0 line in Europe is that even the currently suspicious leaders understand that we're all very small”.

“has an increased awareness that a stronger Europe and the European Union is a must, despite mistakes”- she said. Daniel W. Dresner, who teaches international policy at the Fletcher School of Tafts in the United States, argues that the “Americans are disgusted with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq”, but according to him, Kagan and Walt make mistakes when they speak of American public opinion.

“Ask him for trade, immigration and alliances, and it turns out Trump has once again made liberal internationalism” great, with Americans favouring international trade and alliances with European and Asian democracies. And indeed, polls show that American attitudes towards trade and bilateral alliances are more positive in the past 40 years, says Ivo H.Dalder, president of the Council of Chicago on Global Affairs.

The American are not tired of international engagement, but of the nonsense and endless foreign wars” -- he said. Dalder and James M. Lindsey will publish the book “Empty Front: America's commitment to global leadership”, which describes the impact of what they consider to be the biggest change in American foreign policy since the withdrawal from Europe after World War I.

Like Kagan, they see terrible consequences from this. But they also argue that even if Mr. Trump does not commit to the liberal world order, the 9 most democratic allies of America can do more to preserve it both in global trade and security.

Lindsey and Dalder call for a “G-9” with Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Australia, South Korea, Japan, Canada and the European Union to act more courageously in their interest, as they are already doing in the field of commerce. Mr. Kagan wants to influence these choices.

Despite mistakes in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya, withdrawal on behalf of “reality” is naive and antihistoric, he argues. “After decades of living within the protection bubble of liberal world order, we have forgotten what the world looks like. To believe that a quarter of a century after the Cold War has been a disaster is to forget what disaster means in global affairs”.

Source: “The New York Times”